The quest for the third segment of the Key To Time takes the TARDIS to
modern-day Earth, near a stone circle called the Nine Maidens. The
circle has been the site of renewed worship of a Druidic goddess called
the Cailleach, and has also attracted the interest of archaeologist
Emilia Rumford. When someone tries to kill Romana, the Doctor realises
that something is amiss at the Nine Maidens, and that the Cailleach may
not be quite as mythical as he believed.

Production

Amongst the new writers approached by script editor Anthony Read for
Doctor Who's sixteenth season was David Fisher. Originally a
script reader at Ealing Film Studios, Fisher later joined Scottish
Television as a writer, during which time he and Read had worked
together. In 1963, Fisher had been invited to contribute an adventure to
Doctor Who's first season by its original story editor, David
Whitaker. More recently, Fisher had been a freelance writer. His credits
included programmes such as The Troubleshooters, Dixon Of Dock
Green and Sutherland's Law, the latter having brought him
into contact with Graham Williams, who was now Doctor Who's
producer.

Fisher was delighted with the Doctor Who production office's
request that he write an adventure with supernatural overtones. It was
decided to base the story around a stone circle, a number of which were
dotted around the British isles. Some of these dated back as far as the
Neolithic period, and a great body of mythology had sprung up around
them. Fisher was inspired by several of these legends, such as tales of
stones (called cycloliths) leaving a circle to travel back and forth
across the countryside, as well as the belief that the number of stones
in some circles varies depending upon the observer. He was also
instructed to include strong female characters in his storyline, which
was commissioned under the title “The Nine Maidens” on
December 8th, 1977. It was positioned as the third story of Season
Sixteen, in order to ensure that it would be broadcast around
Hallowe'en.

David Fisher was inspired by legends about stone circles,
such as stones leaving a circle to travel the countryside

Around the start of 1978, Williams and Read decided to emphasise the
fact that the year would be themed around the Doctor's search for the
six segments of the Key To Time by giving each serial a title of the
form “The [Something] Of Time”. Consequently, when the full
scripts were commissioned from Fisher on January 10th, his adventure was
renamed “The Stones Of Time”. This idea was subsequently
abandoned, however, and by the end of March the scripts carried the
title The Stones Of Blood.

Fisher drew heavily upon British mythology for the names he used in his
serial. Vivien Fay and her past alias, Lady Morgana Montcalm, recalled
Morgan le Fay, King Arthur's sorceress half-sister. The word
“Cailleach” itself was a Gaelic term meaning “old
woman”, and was associated with numerous entities in Celtic
mythology. Dr Thomas Borlase was an homage to two celebrated historians,
Thomas Price and William Borlase. The Megara, on the other hand, were
named for Megaera, one of the Furies (also called the Erinyes or
Eumenides) of Greco-Roman mythology; these were goddesses who persecuted
those they perceived as guilty of a terrible crime. Two names were
modified during scripting: Leonard De Vries was originally called
Charles, while the Nine Maidens became the Nine Travellers.

The director assigned to The Stones Of Blood (now designated
Serial 5C) was Darrol Blake. This would be Blake's only Doctor
Who assignment; his other credits included The Tomorrow
People, Doomwatch and Coronation Street. Blake elected
to make a significant change to Fisher's conception of the Ogri, which
the writer had envisioned as rocky-skinned humanoids who looked like
regular stones only when stationary. To save costs, Blake elected to
have the Ogri appear as large blocks throughout, although elements of
Fisher's original idea -- such as the large footprint found by the
Doctor and Romana -- remained in the script.

Also altered was the way that the Ogri killed their victims. Initially,
they were to simply crush people, but this was replaced by their ability
to absorb blood. The scene with the two campers was written at a late
stage as an illustration. The Megara were also altered; rather than
floating lights, Fisher had depicted them as flying metal orbs, but
Blake felt that this was too similar to some elements of the feature
film Star Wars.

The Nine Travellers were represented by an authentic stone
circle in Warwickshire called the King's Men

John Leeson was contracted to provide the voice of K·9 in The Stones
Of Blood on May 15th. Four weeks later, on June 12th, location work
on Outside Broadcast videotape began at Reed College in Little Compton,
Warwickshire, where one of the buildings featured as the exterior of De
Vries' house. The next day, the Nine Travellers were represented by an
authentic stone circle dating from the early Bronze Age called the
King's Men, part of the Rollright Stones complex near Long Compton,
Warwickshire. Amusingly, a group of schoolchildren visiting the site
that day to count the cycloliths were confused to find that the number
was not what they had expected. While this appeared to lend credence to
myth about the shifting populations of stone circles, it turned out that
they had inadvertently included the Ogri props in their tally.

On June 14th, the scenes on the moorland were recorded on the grounds of
the Manor Farm in Little Rollright, Warwickshire. During the night, the
TARDIS was stolen by students from Reed College, who hid it nearby. The
15th was spent at Little Rollright Quarry for the material on the
cliffs. Tom Baker refused to appear in shot for the scene where the faux
Doctor forces Romana off the clifftop, since he was concerned that
younger viewers would lose their trust in the Doctor. Blake agreed to
frame his shots so that only the Doctor's voice would be heard.

By now, it had been realised that The Stones Of Blood would be
the one-hundredth broadcast Doctor Who story. Because episode one
was underrunning, the regular cast encouraged Blake to write an extra
scene in which Romana and K·9 would celebrate the Doctor's 751st
birthday, complete with a cake and a birthday present (a new scarf,
identical to the one the Doctor was already wearing). However, Fisher
was concerned about the skit's irrelevance to his storyline, while
Williams and Read ultimately agreed that it was too self-congratulatory.
The sequence was dropped, with Williams scripting the White Guardian's
pronouncement in its place. Blake was disappointed with this decision,
and had already ordered a specially-made birthday cake.

Studio 3 at BBC Television Centre was home to the recording of The
Stones Of Blood, beginning with a two-day session on July 3rd and
4th. The first day was dedicated to nighttime scenes at the Seven
Travellers and on the moors, as there had been no provision for night
shooting on location. The next day dealt with sequences in De Vries'
house, as well as on the clifftop.

Although the planned birthday segment in the TARDIS had
been excised, the cake ordered by Gerald Blake arrived anyway

The second studio block spanned July 16th to 18th. The first two days
were principally concerned with all of the material on the Megara
spacecraft. To establish the vessel as a prison ship, it was decided to
feature old Doctor Who monsters amongst the deceased convicts. In
the event, only a Wirrn (from The Ark In
Space) was seen, although permission had been obtained to
feature a Sea Devil (from The Sea Devils).
Also taped on the 16th was the White Guardian's dialogue. This was read
by Gerald Cross (who was already playing one of the Megara) in order to
avoid having to rehire Cyril Luckham, who had portrayed the Guardian in
The Ribos Operation. The 17th, meanwhile,
also saw the completion of all the material in Vivien's cottage, as well
as various effects sequences.

Recording on The Stones Of Blood then concluded on July 18th. In
addition to some remaining effects work, the sequences set within the
TARDIS were taped on this day. Although the planned birthday segment had
been excised, the cake ordered by Blake arrived anyway. Fittingly, this
was enjoyed by the cast and crew to celebrate the serial's
completion. Little could anyone suspect at the time that The Stones
Of Blood would not be the only centenary reached by Doctor
Who, although it would take longer than fifteen years for the
programme to reach its two hundredth adventure...